Dawn Collinson looks back 59 years to Coronation street party day on Merseyside

RATIONING was still in force over the shop counters as a reminder that the end of the war wasn’t so far away. But, in 1953, Liverpool – along with the rest of the nation – cast off economic restraint in the name of the Queen’s Coronation.

While the city centre stores and even the Mersey tunnel draped their frontages with elaborate displays, thousands of street parties were organised across the city as people went to extraordinary lengths to mark the occasion.

The tradition had first become popular with the Coronation of Princess Elizabeth’s father, King George VI, back in 1937. But, with the arrival of television sets in more and more homes, it was the Queen’s ceremony which really captured the imagination and brought the country out to party en masse.

It was the first crowning of a monarch ever to be shown on the small screen, allowing families and neighbours to watch together, then keep the celebrations going themselves (although many saw it in black and white, and went to the cinema later for the colour version).

Most streets were festooned with red, white and blue paper chains, flags and bunting, with cut-out photos of the Queen stuck in front windows.

Some streets chose a fancy dress theme for their party, while others simply turned out in their Sunday best to make the most of great piles of homemade sandwiches, Jacob’s biscuits, orange squash and urns of tea laid out on trestle tables the length of the streets. Mums and dads joined in too, and donated a jumble of mismatched dining chairs – although quite how many got back to their rightful homes at the end of the day remains lost to the annals of time.

Do you have a photo of a Coronation street party or memories to share about the occasion? If so, please send them (or a copy of the photos) to: Coronation Flashback, Liverpool Echo, Old Hall Street, Liverpool L69 3EB or email features@liverpoolecho.co.ukCould Mrs Lynda Kilner, from L18, who sent us her photo from a Coronation party in Bromborough, please resend a contact phone number.